By The weight of wrong perception that the news media in Africa churn out to the global community is responsible for the low Gross Domestic (GDP) from tourism but that narrative could possibly change when the continent embraces technology in its tourism and hospitality business.
Those were the takeaway from a webinar hosted today by the global Public Relations company, The Newmark Group Limited in partnership with PRGN, AIkemi Collective and China Advocate and organized by the Global Expert Panel (GEP) under the InfluenceXXI series with the theme: Tourism Transformation: Global Insights for Africa.
Reacting to questions on the low impact of tourism on GDP, the speakers revealed how much impact wrong perception about security in each of the countries in Africa has affected the growth of tourism in the continent noting that the reality does not portray what actually comes from the social media.
According to Bradly Howland, Chief Executive Officer of Alkemi Collective, it is unfortunate that Africa has been a victim of the perception that the continent is unsafe and that it is not a great place to go that there’s nothing to see there.
He added that there is the perception that the place is overcrowded saying, “you’ve got all these stereotypical sorts of ideas and narratives that seem to be dominating the market.”
He disclosed that people need to understand what their actual brand identity from a tourism lens noting that means people saying that the people should be able to say how amazing their country is.
He further noted that when trying to market a destination on the international level these stereotypes seem to dominate the conversation, stressing that there is the need for a stronger puh in terms of understanding that.
He called for disbudding the myths and misconceptions around the market stating that “I think Nigeria really does there’s a huge need for that to happen there as well on an international perspective because unfortunately those stereotypes seem to dominate.”
And on technology, he said technology, Africa has focused heavily on leapfrogging technology to ensure that it is market matched on the continent.
He said, “Last year, 80% of all Foreign Direct Investment on the continent was for tech development on the continent. This growth gives us hope that Africa can help to lead the technological revolution needed to support its tourism efforts.”
Similarly, Christina Rytter, Vice President EMEA, Scandinavian said that it is purely an African issue noting that it left for Africans to educate the world to make Africa more visible by making what is unique to each country more interesting.
She said: “Nigeria for example, what can we then say about Nigeria to attract Europe, the first of all of course is the critical questions or barriers for coming to visiting Nigeria”, adding that there should be information on safe and what is been done to create a safe environment.
According to her, there are other interesting things to consider might stand as a selling point such as the local food, culture, diversity and multicultural interesting things, and then create awareness through education at targeted groups.
Speaking further on cost implication of tourism to Africa by Europeans, she said that lates statistics indicated that 54 percent believe that they have enough money to spend on travel this year on travel despite the inflation in Europe urging that Africa needs to tap into luxury tourism that does not only go for style hotel but exciting travel experience where the money is waiting to be spend.
On the impact of technology, she said that artificial intelligence and machine learning has become more integrated part of the tourism industry adding that “you can do both from trip planning to real-time support on site.”
She stated that AI powered algorithm can show how to optimize travel route so one can reduce carbo footprint.
And the Group Chief Executive Officer, The Newmark Group Limited, Gibert Manirakiza, said that Nigeria needs to also begin to look into how to translate its rich natural reserve into tourism destination noting that many countries have significant reserves of natural resources such as oil or dams and gold or any of such resources tend to focus on their national planning and investment on those resources to generate revenues to drive the growth of service sectors such as tourism.
However, he noted that there is growth in the Nigerian tourism sector saying that the Tourism Development Corporation had a revenue target of about $3.9 billion in 2023, adding that there is still room to achieve more.
Manirakiz called for the need of the competitive identity of Nigeria to highlighted saying, “when you search for Nigeria online, you don’t necessarily get the best headlines, you probably get some disturbing headlines, unless if you know the country well and you have specific reason to go, you probably be scared, if you are just a tourist looking for destination.
“So that story has to be told or a biggest news has to be told some of those issues maybe there but Nigeria is a very big country and it would be good for that nuanced identity and unique identity of various Nigerian regions to be told.
“And that’s where we come in as professionals to advise not just government well also the difference players both in private and development sectors on how to unlock those potentials.
“So perception is very big investment is definitely an imperative going for what prioritization is going to be very critical because its not also enough to fix perception, you also have to actually invest in infrastructure that to leads specific destination and allows investors to come.”
In a closing remark, Country Head, The Newmark Group, Nigeria, Lovelyn Okafor who moderated the webinar thanked the speakers for the very informative insights given during the discourse with more exciting engagement in the next one.
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